CU officials discuss online-only 'Rocky Mountain' campus

DENVER -- Like Borders and Blockbuster, if the University of Colorado doesn't come up with a plan for online education, it will be left behind, says CU Regent Stephen Ludwig.

Ludwig presented the idea of a separate, online-only CU campus to his colleagues during the Board of Regents December meeting on Tuesday. Ludwig's proposed University of Colorado Rocky Mountain campus would help CU return to its mission of serving Colorado residents.

"If we are to remain faithful to our commitment to be public educators, and fulfill our obligations to the people of this state who have supported us in the 19th, 20th and now 21st century, I would strongly argue a standalone, online campus is something we must do," Ludwig said.

He urged his colleagues to discuss the idea of an online-campus and explore how such a program might benefit Colorado residents, non-traditional students and other possible online learners.

Ludwig, a Democrat who holds an at-large seat on the Board of Regents, pointed to dwindling state funding for higher education and the expected population growth in Colorado as reasons why CU needs to create an online-only campus.

Without an online-only campus, CU's four campuses won't be able to accommodate the growing number of new students expected to enter the higher education system in the next 20 years, Ludwig argued.

"Doubling down on today will not meet those needs tomorrow," he said. "There is no way we can afford to build enough buildings, hire enough faculty and support a physical infrastructure to meet the massive increase in demand."

In 2008, Colorado State University launched its CSU-Global campus to offer online degree programs. In April, the University of Florida announced that it will launch online-only degree programs in 2014, and California and Texas are considering similar moves, Ludwig said.

Still, some CU regents were skeptical of Ludwig's proposal to create an entirely separate campus for online degrees.

This year, CU offered four free, massive open online courses -- MOOCs --through Coursera, a company that offers online courses to a global audience. CU's Denver campus, for example, already offers 17 online degree programs and 11 online certificates such as a Bachelor of Arts in English writing.

"What I want to know more about is will we get there sooner by having more aggressive use of technology within our existing structure, rather than trying to create a separate institution," said Regents chairman Michael Carrigan, a Denver Democrat.

Ludwig said an independent online campus won't affect the rankings of CU's other campuses and would provide a space for experimentation and possible collaboration with other universities.

He added that it's inefficient for each campus to create its own online delivery platform and faculty are not prepared to quickly adapt their in-the-classroom courses for an online model.

"Faculty will slowly and conservatively develop some online content based on their desires, which will be good for the campus and the department, but not necessarily tie into the overall mission of the CU system" Ludwig said. "I also think it is unfair, and setting people up for failure, to expect faculty to become excellent at online delivery."